RAT
by purpledragon6
Summary: After becoming a Bang Baby, Richie soon finds himself overwhelmed with multi-layered thoughts and in a last ditch effort to rid himself of the "unimportant" ones, finds that things don't stop just because they're outside of his head.


**_A/N: Summary: Richie never expected to become a Bang Baby with the power of a second brain! With these multi-layered thoughts becoming too much for him, the tech decides that some thoughts just aren't important enough to keep in his head._**

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing except for the R.A.T Computer._**

* * *

Another splitting headache greeted Richie as he opened his eyes a little too early. What started as an innocent dream had turned into a painfully overloaded thought processes. One that was currently analyzing both the chemical function of the brain as well as the structure of a black hole. All at once, it made his head feel worse than being on fire. It felt like a million wasps was stinging his brain a million times at once.

"This is torture..." Richie groaned, pulling himself out of bed and dragging himself to the bathroom.

His thought migraines had caused him some sudden sickness in the past, so he wasn't going to take his chances with ruining yet another pair of pajamas. This was his last clean pair anyhow, and he was too damn tired to wait for a pair to come out of the wash and dryer. So he begrudgingly trudged to his toilet and sat next to it on the floor to wait, especially now that speaking and just thinking about the bathroom made his head hurt all the worse.

Back in his room, from a far off charging station, Backpack beeped lowly in concern for its creator. Richie couldn't help but smile slightly in the direction of the tech, but he wasn't going to call out to him. Thinking up a response of 'I'm alright' would surely tip him over the edge. The Backpack didn't seem to like the response, as the half-charged tech left its station quickly and toddled on over to Richie. Cold metal was relieving as it slid up Richie's heated back, and the boy soon felt his thoughts begin to even out a little. However, he knew the relief wouldn't last for long. Backpack would need to charge soon enough, and he would need to go back to bed eventually- He hoped.

There was only so much that backpack could do for him before it got to be too much. Sleeping with a piece of metal strapped to your back wasn't something that sounded comfortable to Richie at all! Or anyone, for that matter.

"I'm fine, Backpack." Richie laughed weakly. "Just gotta get the ol' powers sorted out and whatever... Shouldn't take long..."

Backpack beeped and chirped in response, which Richie took as a skeptical response of sorts. He frowned and shook his head. Richie knew Backpack was right- about whatever it was he was right about. Bang Baby powers, especially this delayed, could take months or even years to sort out! Even Virgil had still been sticking laundry to himself by the time he was 3 weeks in to his abilities!

"I need something that can store these extra thoughts- Like a mental notepad or trashbin..." Richie muttered, wincing as his mind suddenly began to flutter with ideas once again. "L-Like a- A FILTER!"

Suddenly forgetting his pain, he launched himself off of the bathroom floor and rushed over to the nearest wall- only to remember that he hadn't grabbed a pen.

Right, pen first. Plans come after- And paper would probably work better than the wall.

* * *

Hours of planning, days of building, and moments of anticipation later- he had done it. Backpack had strained himself to his limit to stay up with Richie, handing the boy his tools and picking him up the floor when his thoughts caused him to momentarily pass out from pain. It would all be worth it though, if Richie's plans were correct, the device he held in his shaking hands would be the key to him finally being able to control his powers in a subtle way, all without loosing a single idea.

"Yo, Richie? You in here?" Virgil's sudden call had Richie's already fried nerves on edge.

The blonde cried out in surprise, nearly dropping his new device, to his horror. Luckily, Backpack caught it in a quick swoop.

"Man, what are you so jumpy about?" Virgil asked.

"Well, you know how my thoughts started thinking thoughts and how backpack can temporarily help me organize them sometimes, but I still go off on tangents that go on and on and on and on and-"

"Richie!" VIrgil cried out, "Get on with it!"

"I've invented this!" Richie exclaimed, proudly thrusting his device out for Virgil to see.

It was a small, hearing aid looking device that was designed to sit comfortably in Richie's ear, out of sight while the wires connected directly into his brain. While he was beeming with pride, Virgil seemed less than impressed with the device. With a shake of his head, Virgil crossed his arms over his chest and simply gave Richie a friendly look.

"I hate to tell you this, Rich, but the hearing aid has already been invented." Virgil laughed, causing Richie to frown.

"Its not a hearing aid. I call it a R.A.T!"

"A rat?"

"Richie's Alternate Thoughts." Richie beamed proudly. "It connects to my brain and it filters my 'unimportant' thoughts out and stores them for me to view later. Think of how great this'll be for use at school!"

"... A Rat?"


End file.
